Process and apparatus for the uti



Nov. 16, 1937. I A SNYDER 2,099,178

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE UTILIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL THREAD Filed April 5, 1936 2,Sheet s-Sheet' l INVEN ,YrfAa/A. \SHJIOQF W/MM A TTORNEY A. L. SNYDER Nov 16; 1937.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FQR THE UTILIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL THREAD Filed April 3, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 r. R "my Wm N N m .m T I/- M r Z 3W7 v.- B

Patented Nov. 16, 1937 PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE UTI- LIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL THREAD Arthur L. Snyder, Garden City, N. Y., assignor,

by mesne assignments, to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application April 3, 1936, Serial No. 72,621

i 16 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in knitting apparatus and method of knitting, more particularly it relates to a modified form of knitting apparatus suitable for use in the knitting of fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial spun cake into cones before the said thread can be satisfactorily knitted into fabric.

It has now been found, however, that fabrics may be knitted directly fromspun. cakes of artificial thread which have previously been subjected to the various washing, purifying and finishing operations by proper modification of previously known knitting processes and apparatus.

It is therefore'an object of this invention to provide a method for the treating of spun cakes I and knitting fabrics directly therefrom..

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved form of knitting apparatus suitablefor use in the knitting of fabrics directly from spun cakes.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a knitting apparatus withauxiliary devices which will permit the same to be used for the knitting of fabrics directly from spun cakes.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent by reference to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustratingone specific embodiment of the invention, and, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic front elevation, with parts shown in sections, of a knitting apparatus constructed in accordance with the in-' vention. Figure 2 is a top plan view of a pair of cooperating furnishing wheels.

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the wheels shown in Figure 2.

t Figure 4 is a. perspective view of a spun cake supporting means.

Figure 5 is a front elevational view of a knitting machine tension head.-

Figure 6 is a side elevational view of the tension head shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view of a spun cake in position on a supporting means, having a thread draw-off guiding means positioned thereon. I 1

Figure 8 is a perspective view of a thread drawoff guiding means.

The spun cakes of artificial thread after purifying and washing in a. known manner are centrifuged to remove most of the liquid therefrom and subjected to treatment with a finishing and lubricating liquid. The spun cakes are then dried and humidified in a known manner and directly mounted on the thread supports of a knitting machine. The finishing and lubricating liquid is preferably applied to the spun cakes by subjecting the latter to a shower with water containing from 3 to 20 grams per liter of a suitable finishing, fiexibilizing and lubricating composition. Any finishing and fiexibilizing composition whichwill soften the thread and impart thereto the desired hand and appearance is suitable for this purpose. The cakes are preferably subjected to such a shower for a period of from two to six hours'at a temperature of about- C. After treating the cakes with the finishing and lubricating liquid they are dried and humidified in accordance with standard practice, after which they will be satisfactory for the knitting operation.

ample, the. Wildman Spring Needle Body Machine,- manufactured and sold bythe Wildman Manufacturing Co. of Norristown, Pa... were commonly provided with a thread tension regulating and automatic stop means, such as, a tension head or furnishing wheel mechanism to be described hereinafter.

The thread tension regulating and automatic I stop means serves to deliver yarn to the knit- Heretofore, knitting machines such as, for exknitting cylinder from stationary guides 23 positioned near to the furnishing wheel mechanism.

The furnishing wheel mechanism comprises a plurality of pairs of positively rotated conical gear wheels 25. The gear wheels 25 are positioned on substantially parallel stubshafts El thereby to cause said gear wheels to, be in full mesh with each other at one end and only partially enmeshed at the other end. The gear wheels are preferably geared to a drive shaft 26 so as to be rotated at a constant uniform speed. The threads l9 are passed between sets of gear wheels 25 which function to draw or furnish the thread to the knitting cylinder. 'The thread may be moved in a direction parallel to the axes of the wheels and between the same, thereby causing the thread to be furnished to the cylinder at varying speeds and to compensate for variations in tension between the thread package and the furnishing wheels. Positioned directly under each set of gear wheels 25 is a pivoted thread guide 29 which is connected to a conventional stop motion mechanism. When the thread l9 breaks'the thread guide 29 drops and thereby actuates the mechanism, such as is well known in the art, to stop the knitting machine. A freely rotatable weighted disc 3! is positioned directly over each set of gear wheels 25. A weight 33 is adjustably connected to each disc 3|. Each disc 3| also has thread guides 35 and 31 securely fixed thereto. A stationary thread guide 39 is preferably positioned directly over each disc 3|. The thread guides 35 and 31 which are fastened to rotatable disc 31 are adapted to move the thread in an axial direction between the furnishing gear wheels in a manner to be described hereinafter.

When knitting directly from spun cakes there will be numerous jerks or changes in thread tension due to catching of the individual thread windings which are somewhat entangled with each other. Due to this.jerky thread delivery difliculty has been encountered from frequent machine stoppages caused by the dropping of thread guides 29 when the thread tension is suddenly released. When the knitting machinery is caused to stop by action of the guides 29 and the presser cams of the knitting machinery a mis-press is caused in the knitted fabric. A mis-press in a fabric is considered a defect and is therefore very objectionable. In order to eliminate mis-pres ses' in the fabric. it was found necessary to remove the conventional presser cam rods from the knitting machinery. Upon removal of the presser cam rods it was found that the knitting machinery could not be stopped quickly enough in case of thread breakage. The free thread end was therefore knitted into the fabric and large holes or quarters resulted from the fabric being pressed oflE the needles. g

, In order to correct this condition the furnishing wheels were raised above the knitting needles a considerable distance, e. g. at least 18 inches and preferably 24 inches. The knitting machine when modified in this manner will not cause mispresses, and will eliminate the knitting of free threads into the fabric.

The threads l9 are preferably led from the thread cakes 4| over thread draw-of! guiding means 43, through thread compressors 45,

through cooperating tension equalizers 41 and 49,

4 diameter, e. g. about 60 drill gauge.

provided with a highly polished, curved flange 57 (see Figures 7 and 8). The thread draw-off guiding means functions to guide the thread 19 as it is being drawn from the thread cake ll. The particular form of this guiding means may obviously be modified in many ways without departing from the nature and spirit of the invention.

Each yarn compressor 15 comprises a small, hard cylindrical guide member, composed of porcelain, hard rubber, artificial resin or similar substance. The yarn compressor 45 is preferably positioned directly over the center of the spun cakes M and contains a thread opening of very small The yarn compressor functions to prevent the passage therethrough of more than one thread when a plurality of loops or windings are simultaneously pulled up from the cakes 4i, and consequently any modified form of device which will function in this capacity will serve as a yarn compressor.

The tension equalizer 4'! comprises a spring suspended rod having a thread guide positioned on the end thereof. The spring 46 will permit the free movement of equalizer 41 in any direction. The cooperating tension equalizer 49 comprises a rod 6|, a pivotal bar 63, a pivot pin 65 and a weighted rod 61. The weight 69 on said weighted rod 61 is preferably adjustably connected thereto. The cooperating tension equalizers 41 and 49 function to prevent sharp or sudden changes in tension in the thread when the thread is not immediately loosened from the spun cake. When knitting directly from spun cakes the thread must often be pulled from a tucked under position and from ridges and crinkles in the cake formation. The pulling of the thread' construction of the tension equalizers is merely' illustrative and any device of similar nature which will provide a considerable length of slack thread upon gradual increase in tension will be suitable as a thread tension equalizer.

The tension head which functions as a thread tension releasing means, comprises a supporting rod H, a supporting collar M, a plate 13, a trigger l5 and a stop motion actuating rod 8|. The trigger 15 is pivoted at 11 and is held in a substantially horizontal position by means of a spring which is adjustable for any desired tension. A rod 8| is also connected to the trigger 15. The several rods 8| from the tension head are in turn connected to a stop motion mechanism by means of rods 83 in a known manner. The thread is looped" over the trigger 15. When the tension on the thread exceeds the tension of the spring holding thetrigger in the horizontal position, the trigger will be moved downwardly and the thread will slidefrom the trigger, thereby causinga stopping of the knitting machine. Inasmuch as the tension heads serve somewhat the same function as the furnishing wheel mechanism, the former has been used only in the absence of a furnishing wheel mechanism. It has now been found, however, that when the tension head mechanism is used in combination with a furnishing wheel mechanism a result may be accomplished which is impossible to achieve with either device when used alone. In the direct knitting of fabric from spun cakes it was found that the jerky yarn delivery. caused afrequent thread breakage when furnishing wheels alone were used. On the other hand when only a tension head was used the thread was continuously cast from the trigger of the tension head, thereby causing very frequent stopping of the knitting machine. However, when the tension head was used in combination with furnishing wheels substantially continuous operation without excess thread breakage was capable of'achievement despite frequent variations in the tension of the thread.

It has furthermore been'found that certain sharp increases in thread tension can be avoided to a large extent by means of an improved cake supporting means. It was found that a cake supporting means having a plurality of resilient prongs 9| which are fastened to a base 93 with inwardly off-set portions 95 adjacent base 93 very materially prevented catching of the loosely wound threads between the bottom of the support and the spun cakes. Excess thread tensions and thread breakage caused by so-called tuck unders were therefore materially reduced. The prongs 9| are provided at their tops with inwardly projecting portions to form a cradle for the core 53 of the thread draw-off guiding means.

The improved knitting apparatus functions substantially as follows:

The threads l9 pass from the spun cakes 4| through the yarn compressors 45, through the tension equalizers 41 and 49 which will prevent any sudden increase in thread tension by taking up the slack between them as they move toward each other. From the tension equalizers the threads pass over the triggers of the tension head through stationary thread guides 39, through rotatablethread guides 35, between the conical furnishing gear wheels, then through the pivoted thread guides 29 and rotatable thread guides 31. When the tension on one of the threads increases as it passes from guide 29 to guide 23, the guide 31 will be pulled downwardly thereby, rotating the weighted disc 3| in a clockwise direction. As disc 3| is rotated the guide 35 will be rotated in a clock-wise direction thereby moving the threadbetween the furnishing gear wheels to a point where said gear wheels are in a deeper meshed position with each other, and consequently cause the thread I9 to be fed to the knitting cylinder at a higher speed thereby decreasing the tension between the furnishing rolls and the knitting needles.

Fabric knitted directly from spun cakes in the manner and with the apparatus hereinabove described was found to be at least of equal quality and in some cases of substantially superior quality than similar fabrics knitted from precision wound cloth knitted from cakes against cloth knitted from cones is that of strip-backs. Stripbacks are caused by broken filaments in the yarn stripping back, leaving a short length of yarn which is light in denier, and terminating in a slub. This is a very troublesome defect for those knitters making quality cloth. Obviously if the spun cakes are first wound into a precision wound cone, the thread cleaning mechanism, the washboard tension mechanism, and the various guides on the winding machines will aggravate this defect whenever broken filaments occur in the spinning operation. The guides on the knitting machines do not affect the broken filaments to the same extent because there is less abrasive action on the threads.

During the comparative test of cloth knitted from spun cakes in accordance with the present invention and the knitting of cloth' from precision wound cones, a comparison was made from 31 rolls of cloth knitted from spun cakes against 19 rolls of cloth knitted from cones on the same machines and at the same machine adjustment. A detailed inspection report of these rolls was summarized as follows:

It will be obvious that many changes and modifications of the process and apparatus above described may be made without departing from the nature and spirit of the invention. It is therefore to be understood that the invention is not to be limited except as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, cake supporting means, said cake supporting 'means having ofi-set portions to prevent pressure on said cakes at the lower internal periphery thereof, positively driven thread feed ing mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles; thread tension releasing means, thread compressor means, and thread tension equalizing means, said releasing means, compressor means and equalizing. means. being positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

- knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, cake supporting means, said cake supporting means having off-set portions to prevent pressure on said cakes at the lower internal periphery thereof, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles; thread tension releasing means, and thread tension equalizing means positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

3. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificialthread, cake supporting means, said cake supporting means having off-set portions to prevent pressure on said cakes at the lower internal periphery thereof, positively driven thread feed ing mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles; thread tension releasing means, and thread tension equalizing means positioned between saidcake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism, said thread feeding mechanism being positioned at least 18" from any knitting needles.

4. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of arti-.

ficial thread, a cake supporting means, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles; thread tension releasing means and thread tension equalizing means positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

5. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, a cake supporting means, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles; thread compressor means, thread tension releasing means, and thread tension equalizing means, said compressor means, releasing means and equalizing means being positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

6. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, a cake supporting means, said cake supporting means having off-set portions to prevent pressure on said cakes at the lower internal periphery thereof, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles, and thread tension releasing means positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

7. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, a cake supporting means, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles, and thread'tension releasing means positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

8. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, a cake supporting means, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles, and thread tension releasing means and thread compressor means positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

9. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, cake supporting means, said cake supporting means having off-set portions to prevent pressure on said cakes at the lower internal periphery thereof, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to. knitting needles, and thread tension equalizing means positioned between said cake. supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

10. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, a cake supporting means, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles, and thread tension equalizing"means positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

aooaiva ii. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, a cake supporting means, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles, and thread compressor means and thread tension equalizing means positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism.

12. In knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, cake supporting means, said cake supporting means having off-set portions to prevent pressure on said cakes at the lower internal periphery thereof, a plurality of knitting needles, thread tension releasing means and thread tension equalizing means positioned between said cake supporting means and said needles.

compressor means positioned between said supporting means and said needles, said compressor means comprising a cylindrical guide member having a thread opening sufficiently 'small to prevent the passage therethrough of more than one thread.

14. In a knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, a cake supporting means, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles, and thread tension equalizing means positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism, said equalizing means comprising a plurality of cooperating, yieldable thread guides adapted to provide slack thread upon gradual increase in thread tension.

15. Ina knitting apparatus suitable for use in knitting fabrics directly from spun cakes of artificial thread, a ,cake supporting means, positively driven thread feeding mechanism for feeding the thread to knitting needles, and thread tension equalizing means positioned between said cake supporting means and said thread feeding mechanism, said equalizing means comprising a plurality of cooperating thread guides mutually yieldable toward each other by increased tension applied to the thread.

16. In a method, for knitting fabrics from spun cakes of artificial thread, the steps coinprising'subjecting said cakes to treatment for 2 to 6 hours with a shower of a finishing liquid containing 0.3% to 2.0% of a suitable finishing composition in water, supporting said cakes on a knitting machine, feeding said thread from said cakes to knitting needles, and substantially eliminating sharp changes in thread tension and thread breakage due to variations in pull necessary to remove the thread from said cakes.

ARTHUR L. SNYDER. 

